No. 2: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

So, I've been on a little book tear. My mother is a reading teacher, so reading was something I learned how to do early and I suppose I'm pretty fast at it when I'd like to be. Or it could be the four hour shifts at work I've had to devote to it entirely...

Anyway, The Bell Jar. A common thing for me is to find things I think I'll hate and then wind up liking them, as in the case of Benjamin Button. I had always heard of The Bell Jar and then resented it because it seemed to coincide that every girl who had brains enough to read it just LOVED it and really felt connected to the character at times, blah, blah, blah.

My brains told me that I liked it pretty well. It was somehow immediately interesting, which is rare for me and books, and despite its heavy weight in terms of subject matter I didn't feel too bogged down by it in the end. Usually books like this are so much that they make me feel like throwing up-- to real, perhaps?--as could be said for certain movies I've seen lately under the genre of film noir. It put me in a funk a few times but if I put it down to do some menial tasks for a few minutes to pull myself back into my own reality, I could return to it quite easily and devour another large portion. It helped that the whole first half wasn't heavy at all, but the weighted latter half swung down with quite a bit of heaviness.

It's difficult to read pages upon pages of story about someone who keeps intending to kill themselves but never really does, and all the while thinks in grim truths muddled together with their own un-reality. It's also made me realize how truly inescapable the mind is, especially when it's consumed with something so entirely and may have chemical imbalances that prevent rationality. It also reminded me of the fine line between mental disorder and higher thought. Higher thought without being able to let go and succumb to some parts of your dumb animal instincts can get you in some deep trouble with yourself, as this character seemed to do.

This book was believable, honest, dark, and enjoyable all at once. I didn't enjoy every single inch of it because certain parts went on a second or two too long, and some were almost unbearable because of their weight, but the story as a whole was so good that I think it needs a rating of 5. A low 5, but a 5 nonetheless.